Telephone-exchange system.



W. A. WY'NNE. I TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SYSTEM. APPLIQAIIOH'IILED JULY 2a. 1908.

91 1,7 98 I Patented Feb. 9., 1909.

STATE-S PATENT s ren.

WILQIAM ANDREW WYN E; or RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA.

.rELnPHonn-Excmcm SYSTEM.

no. ori ce.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 9, 1909.

Application filed July 29, 1908. Serial No. 445,970.

be answered and their Wants ascertained rest of the apparatus and the other steps in the connection are unimportant, but that it is essential to limit the troubleswhichare 'i11e'-\' t...;lc in all exchange work, to other st. ps than the first and to other apparatus than the answering. The reason for this is almost obvious, and needs no more than suggestion to be understood. -When a sub- 7 scriber makes a call it is for service, and'the telephone exchange force is organized for rendering service. Such service to be of value must always'beprompt, but to be of full value and to cover all emergencies it must be instantaneous. Now, if the subscriber feels that he can depend upon getting prompt response to his call, he is not concerned with'the balance of the work done in getting the connection wanted, or rendering any service he may require. In other Words, if a calling subscriber can always get to an operator a certain percentage of troubles can be'permitted beyond the operator without, detriment to'the service.

The ordinary method of answeringicalls of course by plugging in on the calling subscribers line and using-a listening key in the cord circuit. One mental act of selection and two manual acts are thus required, and this is very little reduced by making thelislines arbitrarily.-

tening key automatic and dependent in its action upon theinsertion of the plug in the jack. It ls'necessary. in order to make any essential improvement, to go direct to the line in answering, and to dispense with any selective act on the part of .the operator, making the connection automatic.

In order to attain my object, I go direct to the line, and make the action not only automatic but simple. For each line I provide a special line relayarranged tobe energized when the line calls, and to the normally open contacts of a plurality of these relaysI- connect the circuit of the operator who is toanswer that, group. As a variation of this arrangement I may of. course. run different op,-

erators. wires to s lit groups, dividingthe may also provide more than one relay per line, or more than-one pair of contacts per relay, so as to be able to put the same line on more than one operator.

Various modifications of my arrangement will occur to those skilled in this art, and it should therefore be understood that I do not limit myself to the specific forms and connections to be shown and described herein, but present the same for purposes of definition alone.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which the figure is a diagramshowing a common battery call system for switchboards.

Referring to the drawing, A and A are subscribers stations provided with the usual substation. apparatus and connected to the central ofiice by line-wires 1-2 and connecting rela' llhaving contacts 12 and 13 'similar to t e cut-off contacts and 6. The line is normally connected on one side to ground by wire 9, and by way of Wire 14 to the contact 12 of relay 11 and contact 1 7 of the signal magnet 10. On the other side the line is connected through wires 15 and 16 and contact'13- to the'contact 6, and thence by wire 19'to the magnets 10 and 11 m paralle1 and so to battery. A branch 20 from 1 cation, which l have not illustrated because contact ('3 goes to the contact 18 of the signal magnet. When the relay ll is energized the wires 14- and 1a are connected to the op ei'ators wires 2 c25, whereby the operators telephone G s brought into connection with the substation telephone at A direct. l .have shown the contact 13 controlling the break as in the line-wire 1 outside of the con- ,tact 6, but this bro-a t may be otherwise placed provided the wire 20 is properly connected.

In operation, it? a. signal circuit is immediately closed as follows: main battery M, 33, .ltl-and Ee s-11, in parallel, l9, 6, lo, l3, 16, l, substation, 2, "5, U and ground to battery. The signal immediately pulls up and closes the contacts l7l8, thereby closing a shunt t'or magnets '10 and 11 k as follows: battery through wires 33 and 3 magnets 16 and it in parallel, 19, 6, 20, 18, ll, 1%, 5, 9 and. ground. llinmediately after this shunt is established Contact 13 opens wires. l5l6, and connects the line circuit to the operators circuit 24-2.) as't'ollows: substation, l, l6, 13, 25, 0, 24, l2, l4, 2,-and back to the substation. 'l'he wire 15 being disconnected, the shunt 'circuit established through contacts l7l8 hasno efi'ect upon the clean talking circuit between the operator and the subscriber. When in answer to the call the operator inserts the plug 26, the contacts 21*:42 are closed together, and the relay 7 is energized by the following path: battery M, 35, I, 20, 21, 22, and ground back to battery. This pulls down the contacts 5 and 6, disconnects the wires 9 and 19, and puts the line-wires l anol 2 onto the jack spring 23. Should the operator-desire to again connect with the line, she may do so by means of the key 29, and she completes the connection through the cord 3l32 and the plug 27 in the usual way. I have shown no clearing-out signal in the cord, but it should be understood that the cord-circuit may be completed in any desired and well-known manner, as it forms no' part of the present invention. If a hand enerator is used at the substation, a bridged igh-wound drop may be used on the cord -28; but with a common battery circuit the usual repeating coil or pair of condensers would be employed, together with a pair of supervisory relays in the cord conductors 314,2.

I am aware that line annunciators have been used to connect their lines directly to the operators circuit, but I believe that I amthe first to adopt a separate relay for 69. this purpose, in accordance with the dictates of ood practice. I am aware that sundry modifications may be'made as I have already stated, and I pointed out that the break an inthe line might be difierently lo- 65 cated. I would call attention to one modifisubscriber A. calls, the

it appears almost obvious, but which may be used in practice. This is to carry the con nection from the contact 17 to the ground wire 9, and locate the break in between such ground connection and the contact 5. All such changes and modifications are. within the scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what. i claim and desire to secure by Letters latent of the United States is:

1. In a telephone exchange system, a plurality of subscribers lines extending to a central oliice, with means therein to interconnect the lines, an operators telephone circuit, an individual signal for each line,

and a relay for each line acting when the line comes into use to connect the same directly with the operators circuit.

2. In a telephone exchange system, a. plurality of subscribers lines extending to a central ollice, means therein for znlcr -onnccting the lines, an operator's telephone circuit, a signal device individual to each line, a re i lay for each line adapted hen the line comes into use to connect the same directly with the operators circuit, and means whereby such signal and relay when rendered active are maintained in such condition, subject to the control of the operator.

8. In a telephone exchange system, a plurality of subscribers lines extending to a central ofiice, means therein for interconnecting the lines, an operators telephone circuit, means for connecting the same with the lines through the connective devices, and a separate line controlled means for connectin the same directly with the lines when cav ling.

4-. in a telephone exchange system, a plu- I rality of subscribers lines extending to a central office, means therein for interconnecting the lines, an operators telephone circuit, an individual signal for each line, an individual relay for each line, said relay acting when its line is calling to connect the same directly to the operators circuit, and said signal acting when set to maintain the relay energized.

5. In a telephone exchange system, a plurality of subscribers lines extending to a central ofiice, plug and cord circuits for interconnct m the lines, a listening and ringing key and operatofs circuit comicctions to each cord, an individual signal magnet for each line, an individual relay for each line adapted to be energized when the line is calling to connect the same to the operators circuit, and a cut-oft relay acting when a cord is connected with a line to disable both the line signal and the line relay.

6. In a telephone exchange system, a plurality of subscribers lines extending to a central oiiice, terminal jacks for said lines, plug and cord circuits for interconnecting the same, listenin and ringing keys in said extend it directlyonto the operators circuit,

cords, an operator s telephone circuit extendmg thereto, an lndivlduel slgnal magnet for each line, an indivlduel connecting relay for each line, means whereby the signal magnet may short-circuit the line when energlzed, and means whereby the relay mey dlSCOIlnect the line outside of the short-clrcuit and all substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM ANDREW VVYNNE. Witnesses:

HUGH M. STERLING, EDWARD E. CLEMENT. 

